iPod: technology’s ever changing beat - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
FT商学院

iPod: technology’s ever changing beat

Enduring love of retro will ensure portable music device’s survival even as US tech group discontinues it
00:00

RIP iPod. Apple’s pioneering music-in-your-pocket has gone the way of the BlackBerry, the 244-year-old Encyclopedia Britannica and the dodo. The Cupertino-based tech group this week said it was discontinuing the iPod Touch, its last remaining portable music device.

At 20 years, the iPod had half as long a run as Sony’s Walkman, its clunkier predecessor. The Walkman allowed 1980s cool kids to listen to music cassettes while rollerblading or doing aerobics.

Sony moved with the times, transitioning to the CD Walkman when compact discs sounded the death knell for those sticky tangled tapes. But the Japanese conglomerate initially balked at devices for streamed music, fearing cannibalisation of its record label business. All told, Sony sold some 400mn Walkmans, not far short of estimated iPod sales.

CDs, too, are virtual toast. Kicking off at the dawn of the 80s, the shiny discs peaked in the years spanning the millennium. The heydays were relatively brief but certainly longer than the blink-and-you-missed-it season of the laser disc, which briefly vied with video for viewer eyeballs.

Nostalgia and the enduring love of retro mean the iPod will not die from the collective consciousness. The Walkman survives in the Smithsonian and on online retailer eBay. A new generation of cool kids rediscovered vinyl. Even CD sales blipped up last year.

Some countries have stronger attachments to analogue technologies. BlackBerry phones enjoyed a brief renaissance in Indonesia. Outsized faxes continue to whirr across China and Japan. The latter, home to some of the most cutting-edge technology on the planet, struggles to wean itself off museum-era gadgetry. Sony stopped making Betamax tapes — the technology trounced by the VHS format — only in 2015. Local authorities and banks were still using floppy discs last year.

Of course, it’s just possible that this is more about quality than sentimentality. After all, the US military, reliant on floppy discs for its nuclear arsenal, pulled the plug on those only a couple of years ago.

版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

Lex专栏:华尔街交易巨头努力避免被噪音干扰

大型银行的负责人也不清楚特朗普多变的政策正在带来“好的”还是“坏的”波动。

教授们就哈佛经费削减起诉特朗普政府

教师、学生和工作人员对特朗普加强对高等教育机构的攻击报以回击。

“应该在这里制造”:俄亥俄州对特朗普关税动荡不以为然

俄亥俄州的企业表示,特朗普的措施将促进美国制造业的发展。

特朗普乱局促使加拿大和丹麦顶级养老基金对美国降温

关税和领土扩张言论引发市场不稳定和地缘政治紧张局势,养老金基金开始考虑应对策略。

Lex专栏:为什么交易员和特朗普都该感谢美国证交会

缩短结算时间可能有助于避免严重的流动性问题。

一周展望:欧洲央行将如何应对特朗普贸易战?

市场普遍预期欧洲央行将在本周的会议上降息,但投资者更关心的是,全球贸易战升级是否会影响今年晚些时候的货币政策。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×